Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Planned Parenthood Final Photos

August 21, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The new Ithaca location of Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes has been open and operating since mid-summer, but here are some final photos that include the metallic facade panels at the entry and side bay. For some interior shots, check out the last post from back in mid-May.

The building is on Seneca Street, between Meadow and North Fulton Street (the Route 13 split), and was designed by Chiang O’Brien Architects. It features a two-story 16,000 square foot interior framed with steel, brick veneer base, primarily fiber cement panel facade, architectural window shades, and geothermal (ground source) heat pump system for heating and cooling.

The construction was done by LeChase Construction Services, based out of Rochester, NY, with an office located in Ithaca. Quite a treat watching this go up- scroll through the project page here to go back in time, all the way to post demolition of the existing structures to a dirt/stone lot in July, 2013.

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Planned Parenthood Nearly Complete, Interior & Exterior Photos

May 11, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes‘ Ithaca project is nearing completion: the parking lot has been paved with asphalt by Heath Asphalt Paving, the remaining sections of sidewalk and curbing have been poured, construction fence taken down, remaining openings filled with windows, window shades installed, and various other exterior and interior finish work completed by LeChase Construction. The organization hosted an open-house tour of their new facility this past Thursday, May 8th, and here are some photos taken from the exterior and interior. The design was done by Chiang O’Brien Architects.

The interior finishes have nice features like metal-framed clerestory windows above solid-core doors for each exam room, a mix of carpet tiles and linoleum, solid cabinetry and countertops, and a variety of lighting fixtures. The layout on each floor is logical: a rectangular-routed hallway wraps nurse and administrative stations on the first floor, with exam rooms, offices, and the waiting room along the exterior walls. The second floor contains mostly office space, with an additional open waiting area, and a conference room. All in all, it’s a professional-looking project (and much improved space) for a great local organization providing valuable services for the area.

Hard to believe, but five days short of a year ago, the site was a flat plot of dirt and stone when I first took some photos here May 16th, 2013.

Photos from May 8th:
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April 21st:
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May 5th:
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Planned Parenthood Project Photo Update

April 14, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Photos of this Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes project taken last week, but exterior siding and fiber-cement facade panel installation look complete, as well as recently-placed granite curbing along the drive entry and Seneca Street. It’s hard to tell from the outside, but it looks as if the walls are all framed, and electric, plumbing, and mechanicals are roughed-in, but finish-work like drop ceiling grids and drywall are continuing. Once the remaining windows, shades, signage, doors, lighting fixtures, and roofing fascia boards are installed, the building itself should look relatively complete on the outside.

This project is being constructed by LeChase Construction, and is designed by Chiang O’Brien Architects.

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Planned Parenthood Facade Work and Window Installations

March 20, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The 16,000 square foot Planned Parenthood project on Seneca Street in Ithaca’s West End has been transforming on the exterior at a rapid pace. The fiber cement panel siding has been finished-up on much of the Seneca side, and all of the eastern side within the past two weeks, and windows have been installed along the Seneca side. The brick portions were completed back in early February, and hanging the remaining fiber cement panels will probably go quickly now that the weather is becoming more favorable.

For those interested, the last post contained some information about ground source heat pump systems; one will be installed on this project, as the drilling concluded a couple weeks ago- see the series of tubes sticking out of the ground on the western side (those are the refrigerant loops).

This project is being constructed by LeChase Construction (which now has an office in Ithaca), and was designed by Chiang O’Brien Architects.

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Planned Parenthood Progress Photos & Geothermal

March 4, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The Planned Parenthood project on Ithaca’s West End has been moving along steadily, as LeChase Construction has installed Dow TUFF-R boards on the exterior, which boosts the overall R-value (resistance to heat flow) of the thermal envelope. Over the boards, pressure-treated wood strips have been fastened to hang the fiber-cement panels that make up the finish layer of most of the facade, which has begun installation along the northern west face. The sections of stone base along the bottom have also been completed, and once the weather gets warmer and more panels have been installed, the windows should follow-up right afterwards.

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American Auger & Ditching Company is on site to drill the well field for the vertical loop geothermal system (ground source heat pump), which requires drilling a set of well loops anywhere from 50 to 400 feet deep, depending on system size, soil, heat pump specifications, climate, and other design factors. Heat pumps are a broad term, but it simply means moving heat from one place to another. A closed loop geothermal heat pump system works by circulating refrigerant (or anti-freeze) through the loops, which allows the refrigerant to exchange thermal energy with the ground due to thermal inertia (lag) of the soil at these depths.

The ground temperature is warmer than outside air in the winter, and cooler in the summer, since the thermal energy from the sun and precipitation lessens in effect the deeper (and denser) the soil mass in between, until there’s almost no variation. The refrigerant fluid gains thermal energy (heat) from the ground in the winter, but flowing in-reverse, loses heat in the ground during the summer. Once inside, the heat pump exchanges the energy with a heating system, and/or a cooling system, depending on the season, space, and type of system. Heat pump systems work in conjunction with other devices, typically forced-air HVAC systems (servicing air through return and supply ducts) and hydronic systems (servicing air by circulating water through radiators and baseboards).

In addition to this project, we’ll be seeing Purity Ice Cream installing a geothermal heat pump system as well. The latest updates and a new serving area render are on their Facebook Page.

 

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Design by Chiang O’Brien Architects

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Planned Parenthood Photo Update: Brick Facade

February 9, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Sections of the Planned Parenthood (of the Southern Finger Lakes) Ithaca project’s facade have been filled-in with brick as called for in the design by Chiang O’Brien Architects. The majority of the work is moving along in the 16,000 square foot interior, which was closed-up by early December, along with the sealing of the bright green glass-mat sheathing covering over the exterior stud walls. Besides brick, much of the building will be covered with various styles of fiber cement panels, as shown in the plans below. LeChase Construction is the general contractor on the project, which should be finishing up later this year.

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S:PPSFL09-09008 & PPSFLGrant-09035200-DesignDocuments250-DD258-PresentationsSPR-Final SubmissionRenderingsPPSFL09-2012 C

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Planned Parenthood Updated Construction Photos

December 9, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Here are some updated shots of the 16,000 square foot Planned Parenthood project on Seneca Street between Meadow and Fulton. The Ithaca Times carried a write-up a few weeks ago about the future new building here in Ithaca, and about the programs the organization offers to the public.
Joe Sammons, President of Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes said that the second story will be housing offices for the education and community programming, and the first story will be devoted to health center operations, but that the building will essentially double the capacity of their current operation here in Ithaca. It will be the first building the organization has built from the ground up.
Joe also said that the building will contain a geothermal heating system, which answers the question of why there was such a big drilling rig on site before the building construction began. The building is estimated to cost $6.12 million, out of the total $8 million investment being made here, in Corning, and Hornell to develop three health centers.
As far as construction, the sheathing has been completed, and the blue coating is probably a water resistive barrier spray that goes on before the facade is installed, which will primarily be a combination of fiber cement panels.

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Planned Parenthood Updated Photos

November 27, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

I actually drove by yesterday and now the project is fully closed-in with glass-mat sheathing and the window openings covered with plastic sheeting. Here are some photos taken this past Sunday. We may not see much outside change on this one until it’s time to put up the facade in slightly better weather, but it’s been quite a fast project so far.

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Planned Parenthood Framing & Sheathing Progress

November 13, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

I can see that some of the interior walls have been framed-out as more glass-mat sheathing has been going up along the exterior walls. Once the exterior walls are closed-in, we’ll see a colorful variety of fiber cement panels installed to compose the facade of the building, along with a brick layer to form the base. There will also be some metals panels around certain window popouts. The site plans were posted here back in May, and the renders of the outside along with exterior details are on the last page.

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Planned Parenthood Updated Photos

November 4, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Here are some updated photos from last week of the Planned Parenthood project on Seneca Street in the west end Route 13 split. There’s more progress on exterior wall-framing, sheathing, and some new interior wall framing. I can also see a bunch of new HVAC ductwork along the ceilings on the second level, an electrical panel with conduit runs for temporary lighting, and pipework on the ground level.

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